• r2-49-10
    Fragment with Lydian inscription, overview. (©Archaeological Exploration of Sardis/President and Fellows of Harvard College)

Anthemion Stele Fragment with Lydian Inscription

Date
Later 5th or 4th C. BC?, Late Lydian (Persian)?
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
IN67.001
Material
Marble, Stone
Object Type
Sculpture
Sculpture Type
Stele
Inscription Text
eś ṣạdmēś osk anolạ 
[ ~ 6 ]a?ṛ[tim]ul akit esλ ṣạ[dmēλ ~ 3] 
Inscription Translation
This inscription and this grave stele are of [name lost] the son of Artimus. Now who to this inscription [or this grave stele does damage . . .]
Inscription Comment
Site
Sardis
Sector
B
Trench
BE-H
Locus
B BE-H
B-Grid Coordinates
E18.05 / N81.95 *98.35
Findspot
Reused by Roman builders in N wall of BE-H. Found in core of W end of wall while removing loose material prior to restoration.
Description

The carefully cut ornament includes part of a downward-pointed lotus with five thin leaves, a concave leaf-like ending to the lower part of a volute, and a rounded part above. The finial projected sideways from the shaft. The leaf-like volute end continues an archaic tradition (cf. Cat. 46 Figs. 150-151), but the thin irregular lotus leaves are post-archaic. The overall composition was probably like Cat. 45 (Figs. 148-149) and the stele from Daskylion (Borchhardt, Epichorische Reliefs, pl. 44:1, here Fig. 152).

This inscription and this grave stele are of [name lost] the son of Artimus. Now who to this inscription [or this grave stele does damage . . .]

Terming the inscription “one of the most representative and careful examples of Lydian epigraphy,” Gusmani concurs in dating the fragment to the later 5th or 4th C. B.C.

Condition

”Local” marble; reddish accretion.

Preserved are center and lower r. parts of anthemion (finial) and top of shaft with first two lines of inscription. Split diagonally and at lower edge; part of l. side missing. Back very roughly dressed if at all.

Dimensions
W. 038; P.H. (r. end) 0.26; Th. 0.125.
Comments
For the general type see also Richter, Archaic Gravestones, 40 reconstruction of painted ornament with downward-pointed leaves.
See Also
Bibliography
Published: BASOR191, 14f., fig. 15; Gusmani, Neuen Lydischen Fund, 52f., no. 70;Gusmani, Sardis M3, 3-6, fig. 3, no. A I 2; Hanfmann, Stelai, 44, fig. 6 (H-48).
Author
GMAH